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Students, math teacher run in rainy Los Angeles Marathon

Three students and mathematics teacher Bill Thill braved torrential rain to compete in the Los Angeles Marathon Sunday.

Thill, who finished in five hours and 17 minutes, was running in his second marathon. At the 25 mile of the race, Thill said he had two options.

"You can either decide you’re miserable or you can just embrace it and just go, and I think you have a much better time if you just embrace it," Thill said.

After he started out too fast last year and was unable to sprint to the finish line, he conserved enough energy for a final sprint this time. Thill ran with the Team to End AIDS, which raises money for AIDS Project Los Angeles.

Jarred Green ’11, Elias Aquino ’12 and Daniel Belgrad ’13 also ran Sunday. Green and Belgrad were running in their first races.

"I’ve always wanted to do one," Green said. "I’ve grown up watching my dad run marathons so that’s kind of what got me into it.

"I’ve been watching them for years and years because they run by my house and this year I decided ‘why not?’"

He said he started training in January and ran four to five times a week. He would run for 15 miles on Saturdays and total between 30 and 40 miles each week. He said he enjoyed the experience.

"At some points it was awesome because whenever it would start to pour down even harder everyone would scream and go crazy just to make it better but then at some points, you’re like ‘wait this isn’t actually that fun,’" he said. "But in the end, every part of it was awesome and it was so much fun."

Green plans to run in the same marathon again next year. He said the last mile was the best part of the experience.

"You run up to the ocean and you see the ocean, then you make the turn on Ocean Avenue, you can see the finish line all the way out there, and you know you just have one mile and you just go for it," Green said.

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AIDS Project Los Angeles is dedicated to: improving the lives of people affected by HIV disease; reducing the incidence of HIV infection; and advocating for fair and effective HIV-related public policy.